Married man shopped by his own family after being caught on paedophile chat room

Sales executive Stephen Kenefick was part of a network of paedophiles sharing harrowing images of children as young as two being abused

A married man shopped by his own family after they discovered him sharing sick images in a paedophile chat room has been locked up for two years.

Sales executive Stephen Kenefick, 54, was caught when his family found chat room conversations on a laptop computer including words like “young girls – I like them young and naked”, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

When his horrified family confronted him about the disturbing discovery, he denied all knowledge.

But after they threatened to call the police, Kenefick put his hands over his head, said ‘I’m sorry guys’ and packed his bags and left, said prosecutor Michael Jones.

WalesOnline reports that further investigation of his laptop revealed hundreds of contacts with other like-minded perverts and the sharing of harrowing images of children as young as two being abused.

Police from Cardiff, where he and his family had lived, confronted him at his new home in Llanelli, Camarthenshire.

Mr Jones told the court: “He largely answered ‘no comment’ to their questions but later pleaded guilty to possessing stills and movies and distributing images of children right up to the most serious category A.”

Lisa Hennessy, defending, said Kenefick had viewed pornography from the age of 11, but had recently joined Sex Addicts Anonymous.

“It has blighted his life for more than 40 years and he is a man with a serious problems but in Sex Addicts Anonymous he has met people who have managed to turn their lives around.

“He’s an intelligent man who is truly sorry and who wants to change.”

The court was told his wife has since divorced him.

Judge Neil Bidder QC requested that part of the former Mrs Kenefick’s victim impact statement be read in open court.

In it, she described the “profound effect” of his behaviour on their family.

“Life changed beyond recognition,” his disgusted wife wrote.

“Memories which had been happy now bring feelings that the family life we had was a lie and nothing can make it better.”

Rejecting a three-year community order where Kenefick could treatment for his addiction, in favour of immediate custody, Judge Bidder said: “It [the effect on the family] goes beyond simple shock, there has actually been psychological trauma.

“They feel betrayed.”

The judge ordered Kenefick’s name go on the sex offenders’ register for 10 year and that a Sexual Offences Prevention Order remain in place for the same length of time.